A leg up on iconic home

Fan of film restores A Christmas Story House

Fan of film restores A Christmas Story House

December 10, 2006|MARY BETH BRECKENRIDGE Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal

CLEVELAND -- Ralphie Parker never slept here. He did, however, take aim at imaginary nemesis Black Bart from his perch on the kitchen sink. And he was spotted through the front window once, caressing a tarted-up leg lamp. This is A Christmas Story House, the real Cleveland home that housed the fictional Parker family in the movie "A Christmas Story." Now, it's Cleveland's newest tourist attraction. San Diego resident Brian Jones bought the house in February 2005 and has poured his heart -- not to mention $240,000 -- into renovating it to make it resemble the house in the movie. He's opening it for tours and has created a gift shop and a small museum in another house across the street. In reality, A Christmas Story House is only part of what viewers remember as the Parkers' home, the place where Ralphie schemed to get a Red Ryder BB gun. It's really the house's exterior that stars in the film; with the exception of the aforementioned scenes, all the interior shots were filmed on a set. The house is in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, in a working-class cluster of closely spaced homes dating to the turn of the 20th century. Drive through the streets, and you half expect to see Ralphie and his buddies darting down the sidewalk, fleeing bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill. The house is instantly recognizable to fans of the movie, thanks to the meticulous restoration of the exterior and the iconic leg lamp glowing in the window. Gray vinyl siding was removed, rotted sections of wood siding replaced and the porch largely rebuilt. ICI Paints matched the exterior paint colors, so the yellow siding and green trim wear the precise shades they did in the 1983 movie. In the backyard, the shed that was swarmed by Black Bart's gang still stands, overlooking a gray vista dominated by a steel mill. A new board fence surrounds the yard, not so much for appearance as for security. Inside, however, the match is less exact. Although Jones, 30, said the set was designed to roughly fit the house's general footprint, the rooms were bigger and the set had features the real house lacked -- a dining room, for example, and a staircase with two landings. So Jones hired Mike Foster, a contractor recommended to him by the Cleveland Restoration Society, to renovate what had been a duplex and make it resemble more closely the interior of the Parker home. It's more a suggestion of the movie set than a replica, but Jones and Foster have taken pains to re-create it as faithfully as possible. The construction crew took out a first-floor bedroom and cut a hole in the ceiling to put in the stairs, and a fake fireplace was installed to mimic the one in the movie. A bathroom was gutted to allow for widening the kitchen, which is outfitted with a brown-painted wainscot, the same model of White Star stove that appears in the movie and a sink with doors below, just like the ones Ralphie's brother, Randy, hid behind. The crew even cut the 12-inch-square, brown-and-white linoleum floor tiles down to 9 inches to match what would have been available at the time the movie was set, around 1940. "We've done all kinds of crazy stuff to the place," Jones said. The house is gradually being furnished, largely with donations from fans. Someone even ponied up a spherical silver shot-glass set, just like the one that sits atop the Parkers' floor radio. Part of the house is private, a tiny apartment that Jones occupies during his stays in Cleveland. The house's curator and director, Steven Siedlecki, looks after the business day to day. "Me and my wife have kind of tossed the idea (of moving to Cleveland) around," Jones said, "but it's cold here." It was Jones' wife, Beverly, who alerted him to the house in the first place. A U.S. Navy officer, she was headed to the Middle East aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard when her captain told her he'd seen the house for sale on eBay. She thought that might amuse her husband, a fan of the movie who made a living making and selling leg lamps, so she casually dropped a mention into the e-mail that she sent him four or five days later. Jones was more than amused. He e-mailed the seller immediately and offered $150,000 -- $35,000 more than the high bid at the time -- if the seller would take the house off the auction block. The seller agreed and even honored that deal after someone else called and offered $200,000, Jones said. He's convinced his investment will pay off. Fans flock to the setting of "Field of Dreams," "and that's out in a cornfield in Iowa," he said. A Christmas Story House is in a city with plenty of tourist draws, so he figures it's another reason for people to come to Cleveland. For some fans, it's the only reason -- like the carload of college-age kids who showed up not long ago after a nine-hour drive from Tennessee. Jones let them into the house, and one of the young women was so excited that she phoned her mother to report, "I'm in Ralphie and Randy's bedroom!" Jones also bought a house across the street to serve as a ticket-sales center, gift shop and museum. Here visitors can browse a collection of "A Christmas Story" memorabilia that includes Randy's snowsuit and toy zeppelin (whoopee!), a reproduction Red Ryder BB gun with a compass and sundial in the stock, photos snapped during filming by neighbors and actors, and framed reviews of the movie, not all of them complimentary. A display of blooper scenes points out such goofs as the visible trampoline that boosted Black Bart over the backyard fence and the dual flagpoles that appear in the movie, one in the front of the school, one in the back. Visitors also can take home mementos from the movie, from a $6 Little Orphan Annie decoder pin to a $595 painting of fictional Cleveland Street by artist Paul Landry. Among the other items for sale are bars of Lifebuoy soap, jars of Ovaltine, copies of the script, T-shirts, posters and Higbee elf hats crafted and signed by actress Patty Johnson, patterned on the one she wore in the movie. And, of course, there are leg lamps in every conceivable form -- ornaments, night lights, light strings and the full-size replicas that Jones sells through his company, Red Rider Leg Lamps. One thing the store doesn't sell is BB guns. The restrictions for retailers are just too strict, Jones said. You'll have to hope Santa comes through. If he does, just don't shoot your eye out.